Belinda Peters at the annual conference “World Church and Mission” of the German Bishops' Conference

From June 17 to 19, 2024, the annual conference of the “World Church and Mission” conference of the German Bishops' Conference (DBK) took place in Würzburg on the topic of “Disturbed Relations. Church and society in dealing with the colonial legacy”. Belinda Peters, research associate in the research focus on missionary collections at CERES, also took part in the conference and reports on the event.

For three days, the topic of “World Church and Mission” was discussed from different perspectives and sometimes controversially by representatives from the church, academia and politics in discussion rounds, workshops and not least in talks besides the program. The focus was particularly on how to deal with missionary collections. The contributions by Bishop Joseph Ndi-Okalla from Cameroon and the Benedictine brother Bakanja Mkenda from Tanzania showed that the collecting activities of missionaries and missionary collections themselves are not only received differently in Europe, but also in the countries of origin.

The presentations and discussions at the conference made it clear that the majority of participants see a great need for action and, above all, research with regard to missionary collections. In the concluding panel discussion with Prof. Dr. Michelle Becka from the University of Würzburg, Karin Kortmann from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit and Bishop Joseph Marie Ndi-Okalla from Mbalmayo, Cameroon, however, it became clear that there does not seem to be a unified position within the Catholic Church on how to deal with the colonial legacy. Accordingly, there is no concrete agenda. However, the fundamental need for cooperation between church and political leadership bodies on this issue was emphasized very clearly.

Link to the website of the research focus on missionary collections at CERES

Link to the website of the Annual Conference World Church and Mission 2024